Love, School & Shamanism
by X-Roosterrelli-X
Summary: Aged 15, Yoh and Anna's lives are perfect. Yoh really proposed and he's now Shaman King. With the appearance of their friends from the Shaman fight, life seems good. But on a school trip to Izumo, something unexpected happens that could change everything
1. Acedemics

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, although I wished I did, and I don't own the oracle bells, but I do own a drawing of them I did . However, I do own Rika Suika, Mika Kinya and Freya Hoshikage, and any other character who isn't a part of the Shaman King series, but appears in this story. **

**A/N: Hey everybody! And welcome to the first Shaman King story that I have actaully had the guts to publish! Okay, I actually wrote this a few months ago, but seeing as my laptop is on the blink, I've had to completely rewrite it! Anyway, this is my first actually my first SK FF but, over on Fiction Press dot net, I have a SK story that isn't really an SK story, so if any of you are interested, its call "Toshiro's story" **

**This story is ever so slightly AU, in that Yoh and Anna have been going to separate schools by the way. And also, this is a year after the series ends, with the main characters being around 15 now. And Anna is VERY OOC from the series, as she is older and has become a helluva lot less of an ice-queen. Well... to friends anyway - oh, and one more thing, this chapter isn't gonna be big on action and stuff. Its more like... setting the scene, introduction to characters, that sorta thing. Anyway, ENJOY! **

**Chapter One - Acedemics**

Yoh gazed out of the window, for once up early and able to relax this morning. It was a Monday morning, and it was finally September, which meant only one thing - a return to Funbari Hill Academy, now as a second year student. It's not that he wasn't looking forward to going back, but the last summer holiday had really changed his life in ways that nobody could imagine but him. After all, no other fifteen year old had a fianceé who they would have chosen, no matter whether it had been pre-arranged or not. Things between himself and Anna had definitely changed. He found himself thinking of the blonde teenager who he lived with as he fingered the gold ring that lay around a chain on his neck. It was glowing a light blue colour, assuring him that everything was alright.

Feeling rather than hearing the appearance of his spiritual ally and one of his closest friends, Amidamaru, Yoh turned around, a smile on his face. "Good morning Amidamaru." he said lightly, pulling the window down to retain some of the air in his now, almost freezing bedroom. He turned around to face Amidamaru and smiled once more, walking over to the wardrobe in one corner of his room where he knew his uniform was located. It wasn't the same as the green uniform that he had practically lived in during the Shaman tournament. This uniform consisted of a black pair of trousers, a pair of shoes of the student's choice (but sneakers were the preferred choice of the school), a white shirt with purple lines bordering the collar, sleeves and hem, a purple and silver tie (which Yoh still didn't own) and a purple blazer with the school crest in silver. Yoh's choice of shoes were a typically orange pair of converses, simply because they were the most comfortable shoes that he owned, even though they clashed with the uniform horribly.

"Good morning Yoh-dono." replied Amidamaru, watching his friend as he pulled out his uniform from the cupboards and shook them out to remove any dust that they could have picked up since he last wore them in July. Looking over the very familiar clothes, he sighed before throwing them down on his futon and heading out of the room to the bathroom, hoping to wake himself up fully with a shower.

* * *

Yawning, Yoh made his way down the stairs, dressed and ready with his headphones in their rightful place and his oracle bell on his forearm. As the one thing he had remaining to remind him of the Shaman fight he was in, he wore it everywhere. Nobody locally understood why save for Manta and Anna, and he would never explain why. So they just took it for granted that it was just one of the things that made Yoh tick. His heavy schoolbag suspended from the other arm which he dropped as he reached the corridor.

Entering the kitchen, Yoh was met by the sight of his fianceé, Anna Kyoyama. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail that reached down to the small of her back, a certain change from the Anna of two years ago who had preferred to keep her hair short, and he recognised the chain around her neck, identical to his down to the last detail, save for the colour of the ring around her neck, which was currently glowing a light orange and her usual collection of blue itako beads, which these days, she never seemed to take off. "Good morning Anna." said Yoh, smiling as he walked behind her and picked out an orange for Yoh walked past behind her and immediately pulled out an orange and began to cut it into quarters. "How did you sleep?"

Anna smiled, a rarity in the past but now it was all too common. Yoh really had been rubbing off on her. "Very well thank you. Although I was kinda nervous about today. I mean, first day jitters." she said, watching Yoh as he walked over to the table, putting the orange peices on a nearby plate to stop him from dropping him. It was no secret that he could be a bit of a klutz. Sitting down, he looked up at her, a quizzical look on his face. "Well, its the first day. I'm allowed to be nervous." It was only then that he noticed what she was wearing, and he almost dropped the orange piece that he was about to eat in shock.

Her outfit consisted of a white shirt with purple outline around the collar and sleeves. As she stood, he could see the shirt ending in two 'tails' that came out over the black pleated skirt she was wearing that came down to her knees. On her feet were black flat shoes, rather that the heels that had become popular amongst girls lately. Yoh thanked the gods for that one. As a short guy himself, having a girlfriend (or in this case fianceé, however secret) who was taller than him would have been... interesting. But the fact that she was wearing the uniform of the school that Yoh and Manta had been in attendance of for the last year... it would be interesting, after all, the three had never been to school together before.

"You... you're..." started Yoh, staring at the uniform that she was wearing, then staring down at his own to make sure that he was wearing almost exactly the same thing. Shaking himself mentally, Yoh looked back up at her. "You're coming to Funbari Hill Academy!?!?!" Anna didn't bother responding verbally, but instead responded only with a nod of the head. "Since when?! And why didn't you tell me? You never tell me anything!" Yoh stopped for a moment and looked over at Anna, her face expressionless. He took a breath. "I guess I would've just liked to know." Just as Anna was about to speak, he doorbell rang and Yoh was out of there faster than you can say 'come in', knowing that it was Manta, ready to walk to school with his two friends.

Quickly making his way over to the door, Yoh pulled it open to reveal the small stature of his best friend and his first human friend, Manta Oyamada. He had grown, granted, over the last almost-two-years and was now at a much more reasonable height than he had been before. Also, he was cradling various bags of stuff, signalling one of three things. His mother or father had gotten sick of his constant friendship with Yoh and had kicked him out... again, his parents were out of town again and they didn't trust him in the house alone at his age, or Manta needed to get away for a while. Often, his visits came at the most random of times, and there was no longer a need to ask to stay over, as he was eagerly welcomed by Yoh and Anna.

"Good morning Yoh!" said Manta as Yoh stepped aside for him to enter the inn.

Yoh smiled down at his friend as he watched him put his things down, slightly away from the door for him to take upstairs upon their return from school. "I hope you don't mind Yoh, but can I stay over for a few nights? I need to get away from my parents for a while - they're being too overpowering again." said Manta, pulling a face at the mention of his parents. It was no secret between the friends that the Oyamada family were one-track minded. Either Manta did great in school in order to inherit the family business as the oldest member of his generation, or he was disowned.

"You know, Manta, that you don't have to ask to stay over here." replied a female voice from behind Yoh, seemingly out of nowhere. "Your room is in the same place it always has been. We'll help you move your stuff upstairs after school if you want." continued Anna, walking past Yoh and over to the shoe-rack. She pulled out a pair of quite dirty orange converses that belonged to Yoh, which she instantly threw over to him. She then went to get their schoolbags while Yoh put on his shoes. It wasn't till then that Manta noticed the change in uniform for her, from green to purple.

"Anna, are you starting at Funbari Hill Academy today?" asked Manta, a lot less shocked than Yoh had been about the subject. After seeing Anna's nod, he continued. "Okay...cool." he said, a little hesitantly. "We...uh... we should go or we'll be late."

And with that, they left for their first day of their second year.

* * *

Approaching the large stone building, you could easily hear the sounds of pupils catching up with each other, talking about their summer holidays and asking what everybody else had done in theirs. Reaching the gates, they walked through and into the crowd of teeangers who had congregated outside the school, all of them slowly but surely making themselves into the school. Squeezing their way through group upon group of girls checking their make-up, boys talking about soccer, football or any other sport going, a gang of boys and girls who's uniforms were almost as different as you could get, and a small group of kids with glasses, braces and laptops under their arms for the world to see (they were being closely followed by a group of shady looking teenagers), they finally reached the familiar open doors that led into the building.

"There are a lot of... gangs in this school, aren't there?" asked Anna, obviously amazed at what she had just seen. It was widely known among the local teenagers that Anna's previous school, Funbari High, was relatively group free, and everybody socialised with everybody else. Here though... here things were different. You were judged for everything, from hair colour, to the things you wore on home clothes days, to your grades, the way you talked, the things you had, the place that you lived... the list went on. It was hard to get close to anybody in a different 'class' to you. It was just like British politics (**A/N: Yes, I am aware of the fact that I just downplayed the British government. As a Brit, I have a right. They suck**).

Yoh smiled his usual, carefree smile. "Its alright, you get used to it. Once you're settled, its not as intimidating as it looks!"

"Yeah, says Mr Popular." replied Manta, rolling his eyes at his best friend. "You're 'in' with every group going Yoh! They all look up to you! You're like... the most popular guy in school!"

There was a pause, in which Anna stopped and looked at Yoh for a moment, Manta simply looked at Yoh with an almost angry look on his face, and Yoh simply looked confused. Then Manta and Yoh began to laugh, leaving Anna as confused as ever. Knowing that, in the state of laughter they were in, there was no way that she would ever find out where she was supposed to be today, she dragged them in the general direction of what she thought was the front desk, hoping that she wasn't going in the completely wrong direction. Pushing through all the teachers that were waiting for thier new ID passes, the trio finally made it to the front of hte long line of people waiting and consulted the secretary.

Manta, although he was the shortest, spoke up for the group. "Excuse me, would it be possible to pick up our class schedules plesae?" he asked, very politely to the blonde woman who was sitting behind the desk and computer.

"Sure!" said the secretary. She was obviously new, and had not yet learned that being nice to the students often got you nowhere - by the second week most of them were rude, old, and it was impossible to have a decent conversation with them. It was more like... well, they talked at you insted of to you. She appeared to be in her early twenties, not much older than the students who went to the school. Her brown hair was left loose, and was about the same length as Anna's was now. Her eyes were peircing blue, and there was a sparkle there. One that disappeared afer a few weeks working as a secretary... well, after looking at Mrs Sugisaki, it was what you could assume. "Can I have your names please?" They gave their names, and Yoh and Manta were first to recieve theirs, however, Anna's was a problem. "I don't appear to have any record for Miss Kyoyama..."

"This is my first day here, could that be why?" replied Anna, being relatively civil to the woman.

Checking through her computer files once more for information on Anna, and even at one point calling on the very ill-tempered Mrs Sugisaki, she believed Anna's reasoning to be correct, and told the boys to go ahead with their schedules, leaving her to sort Anna out and allow her to choose her options. Bidding the only female member of their trio goodbye, Manta and Yoh set off to their homeroom, comparing their class schedules as they went. Happy that they had both ended up in almost all the same classes (the single exception was that Yoh was in Math I and Manta was in Math II), they arrived at their homeroom.

Currently, there was no teacher, and the room was a lot less divided than the groups of people had been outside. Usually, that group was made up of first years, just out of the Junior High part of the school. It freaked out the older students to think that just a year ago, they were all like that. Separated. Now, they were a lot more like a community. Civil, at least, to each other. Most people were sitting at desks, turned around to speak to the friends who they hadn't seen since the previous July. However, there was a large congregation of girls sitting around three others, who were famous among the second years. Rika Suika, a fifteen year old girl who wasn't really all that bright, but knew how to make herself, and others, look good, Mika Kinya, a smart and pretty girl, who was the brains of the so-called 'operation' and Freya Hoshikage, their leader. Her surname meant 'starlight' and that was what she wanted to stand in. She wanted to be a star in her own right, and was one of the prettiest girls in the year. Most guys wanted to date her, most girls wanted to be her.

Typically, Yoh and Manta chose their seats relatively close to the back of the room, Yoh leaving a space on his right-side for Anna when she finally turned up. They were greeted by various of their classmates as they passed by to get to their desks, including Neka Miyamoto, the one girl that Manta actually found relatively attractive out of anybody in their entire school. Obviously, this had been a cause for laughter at Manta's expense by Yoh and various other parties, but this year his liking for the girl had quickly cleared up, especially after experiencing the life of a Shaman with Yoh, and now being one himself (although he was in the very early stages of training)... going out with Neka was something that would be almost impossible for him.

Very quickly, they heard the bell ring, signalling the start of the first class of the year. For most students, this was a free period in which they were able to check any abnormalities in their timetables and catch up with friends. However, Yoh and Manta were called down to the principal's office. Knowing that they had done nothing wrong in the first few minutes of school starting, they went down to the office with their heads held high, talking about their expectations for the year. They didn't want another hectic year like last year, with Yoh almost failing because he missed so many classes because of Shaman related things, and Manta missing almost twice as many because of numerous family related problems. Being welcomed in the room, they saw Anna sitting in front of the principal. Obviously the principal was interested in finding out about her before letting her loose on the rest of the school.

It was a few minutes before he noticed Manta and Yoh standing in the shadows behind Anna. "Ah, Mr. Oyamada and Mr. Asakura. Would you like to take a seat?" asked Mr. Nakadai, a smile on his face. He was young for a school principal, mid-thirties maybe and he was always as nice as possible to the students. Sitting down, Yoh beside Anna and Manta on the other side of Yoh, Mr. Nakadai began. "Right, from speaking to Miss Kyoyama, I have determined that you know each other from before, correct?" he asked, receiving a nod from Yoh and Manta. "Alright then, I won't feel guilty about making this snap decision - Yoh, I want you to help Miss Kyoyama find her way around, and make sure to steer her away from the more... diverse student population."

"Yes Sir." Replied Yoh automatically, knowing exactly what he meant by 'diverse'. They were the students who were... not really the best in any sense. They were the students who constantly bunked off school, and when they did come in, they disrupted classes, drew on school property and spent their lives trying to rig the door of the staff room to lock the teachers out. Also, there were the kids who were so weird, that they thought they were seeing things that weren't really there, such as spirits. They spent a lot of time with the school psychiatrist. What Mr. Nakadai didn't know, was that Yoh, Manta and Anna were a part of that 'diverse' class. They were just smart enough to know that they weren't to discuss their Shamanism in front of normal people who would consider them insane.

"Alright then, with that done, you are free to go. Have a good day, you three." said the principal, dismissing them from his office.

Yoh and Manta quickly took a look at Anna's proposed timetable, which was exactly the same as Yoh's, with her being put in Math I because the school were not aware of her past Math grades. And so, they led her off on a tour of the school before their real first class started.

* * *

The lunch hour had finally rolled around, and Anna, Yoh and Manta were in the lunch-room with the rest of the school, thankfully tucking in to a lunch that Anna had made that morning with all the free time that she had had. The school food wasn't at all appetizing. It usually constructed of some kind of meat (usually unidentifiable), a load of vetetables or salads, just as identifiable. So really a packed lunch was really the safer option. Just as Yoh. Manta and Anna had submerged themselves in conversation, they were interrupted by the appearance of three very familiar girls, Rika, Mika and Freya.

"Yoh! Oh my goodness, I haven't seen you in forever! How was your summer holiday?" That was Freya. It was widely known that Freya had a crush on Yoh. He was one of the most athletic boys in the school, and with the added value of him being genuinely nice, he was one of the most attractive to her. However, Yoh was either completely clueless, or blantantly not interested due to him already having a fianceé who he loved more that anybody else.

Yoh smiled, without a single show of falseness. He was good at that. "Hi Freya, I had a great holiday, improved a lot of stuff..." he said, looking over at Anna, smiling over at her. He notiiced that she flushed slightly, a small smile on her face, before he turned back to Freya. "How was yours?" he asked.

"Oh, it was great! I went swimming in the Caribbean, I went to sooo many exclusive parties and stuff, I met some famous people too when I went to California, and... wow, it was amazing!" she said, smiling and laughing as she remembered everything she had done. Her holiday didn't measure up to Yoh's at all in the sense of what she did. She had done all that whilst Yoh had spent most of his time with Anna and Manta around the inn. Occasionally they went out to fairs, amusement parks or anything else that they could find to do that would pass the time. And over that summer, Yoh and Anna had gotten considerably closer. They had finally shared their first kiss, and Yoh had truly propsosed to her, with the connection rings that were now around gold chains and they wore around their necks, glowing to signify the other's mood.

Manta chipped in. "Sounds like you had fun..." he said.

Mika and Rika, who were yet to join in the conversation fully, looked down at Manta after he had spoken as if he was something that had just crawled out of a grave. A feeling which Manta was able to associate with... after all, he had seen many a skeleton crawl out of its own grave... the memories of that fight still made him shudder to this day. "Yeah, I like, totally did." she said, not really paying all that much attention to Manta in the first place, before turning around to see Anna sitting next to Yoh. "And Yoh, who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Anna." he said. "We've known each other since before I can remember."

"Yoh and I grew up in Izumo together. Our families are very close." She looked up at this girl with a feeling of contempt. There was something about this girl that she didn't quite like. Something that wasn't right. She started to finger the blue rosary beads that were around her neck, before Yoh noticed and stopped her. She put on a fake smile, simply to appear to be friendly to the girl. "It's nice to meet you." continued the Itako.

Freya looked over Anna, and saw one word all over her. 'Competition'. Throughout the school, everybody knew that you don't compete with Freya when it comes to boys or anything of the sort. However, Anna was new, and didn't know those rules. And there was no way that she was going to lose out getting Yoh, no matter what. This girl, had to be gotten rid of, and soon. "Anyway, we'd better be heading off, we have to go and see a man about a group." said one of the girls in the background, Rika.

"Yeah, we'll see you around Yoh. See you Manta, Anna." said the other girl, Mika. She was the nicest and most genuine girl in the group and truthfully, she was the only one that Yoh and Manta actually liked. When she was away from Rika and Freya, it was actually possible to have a decent conversation with her, and she certainly knew her stuff. She often had helped Yoh out of a tough spot in science class as they had been lab partners the previous year.

As they walked away, the trio simply watched them. Anna, had just potentially met her first real enemy.

**END**

**A/N: Okay, that was exceedingly long, but I just needed to get that chapter out of my system. Also, I know that this idea has probably been done about a million times before, but later on, I'm hoping that this story will come into its own! So, I hope you have enjoyed reading the first chapter of my FIRST Shaman King fic to be published, and leave me some love so I know how I'm doing!**

**Thanks! Much Love**

**xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx**


	2. Phone Calls

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yoh, Anna, Manta or any other characters from the show. I DO own Freya, Mika, Rika and the the teachers, as well as Yuki Murukami. **

**A/N: Well, I must say that I am amazed! Here I am, first SK fiction, and I got my first review a mere THIRTEEN MINUTES after posting the first chapter! That's pretty damn good for me AAANNYWAYS, firstly, I'm gonna answer my reviews, as is customary for me:**

_**Holy Girl: Here's your update! Hope you're enjoying the story!!!**_

_**Abie05: Thank you for your compliments! And I'm glad that I got Freya's intentions over to the audience quickly. That will save time for me later on in this story... less explainations **_

_**Random: Yeah, Anna's nice. But the mean streak is still there, as will be seen in this chapter. The moment I read your review, I planned the moment where the mean streak will show through, so be happy! Your review influenced my writing!!! arigatou!!!!**_

_**dark.hikari.rox: thank you! Well, to be totally honest, this isn't my first fanfic, I have some prior experience in the Danny Phantom field (I'm currently working on a five part series and I needed a break because my computer lost all my notes on the story) with one complete story. BUT this is my first SK fic, so I'm happy that it's doing so well!!!**_

_**NgocNhi: Thank you very much! Although, as I just explained, this is not actually my first fanfic, but it is my first Shaman King fanfic. But still, your comments mean a lot to me! Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!**_

**Okay! Without any further ado, ON WITH THE SHOW!!!**

**Chapter Two - Phone Calls**

After lunch, the day had gone relatively smoothly, with Anna impresing the science teacher with her skills, and due to an odd number in the class, Manta, Yoh and Anna being put together as lab partners. During their second free period of the day, they finished the tour of the school, as Anna had now seen most of it during their travels to various classes and finally, the bell rang for their final class. Last class of the day was gym, with the entire year joining up to do athletics. With the inter-school athletic competitions coming up, the teams had to be selected from the class. So, the entire second year were to be found outside in shorts and polo-shirts. Generally, the group was getting on with everything that they had to do, but some...

"IT'S TOTALLY TOO COLD FOR THIS!!" shouted Freya at the top of her voice, obviously trying to get attention from the rest of the class, especially the male half. She often complained about gym class, if she wasn't showing off. "I TOTALLY WISH WE WEREN'T OUT HERE!" She continued, as a lot of the boys started to crowd her, with various cheesy lines such as 'I'll keep you warm' and other embarrasing things. However, Freya obviously wasn't pleased as the boy she wanted to come over to her had only just walked out of the changing rooms with his best friend, and they had soon been joined by Anna.

Anna looked over at the girl as the trio walked out onto the playing field, Yoh and Anna both tucking the rings into their shirts, a look of annoyance on her face. "She really is quite an exhibitionist." she said, walking past the large group of boys, not paying attention as most of them turned around and began looking and pointing at her. "People like that get on my nerves..."

"Hey! New girl!" shouted a voice from what seemed like nowhere. All three shaman's turned around to see a brunet boy running towards them, who went by Yuki Murukami. He was the least trustworthy boy in school, who went out with girls only if they were pretty, and only to higher his social status. Slowing down to a walk, he shoved Yoh and Manta out of the way, both of them landing on the ground beside each other, and stood next to Anna, grabbing her arm. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be hanging around with background boys like these. Come with me, and I'll show you what this school really is like..." he said, a grin on his face.

Anna simply looked him in the eyes, her blue eyes shimmering with the anger she was feeling. A matter of seconds later, the class heard the unmistakable sound of skin on skin. Meanwhile, Yoh and Manta, who were still on the ground after being shoved over, exchanged each other before speaking two words that had caused them a lot of pain over the years. "Ledgendary left." they said, before turning back to the scene before them, Anna having a go at Yuki.

"... and if you EVER push over my fian-friends again, you will regret it. Clear?" she said, her eyes almost black. Seeing Yuki nodding in fear, Anna smiled a rather sadistic smile. "Good, now run along before I change my mind about letting you go." And with that, Yuki ran away from Anna as fast as his legs would carry him. Anna quickly gave herself a mental slap for almost slipping up and saying 'fiancé' instead of friend. The pair of them had decided that for the most part, on school grounds, they would appear only as friends, nothing more, to save any complications. It would save a lot of explaining. The rest of the class watched on, amazed, as Anna's mood instantly changed to calm but worried as she turned to Manta and Yoh and helped them up, especially fussing over Yoh. "Are you guys alright? Did you get hurt, are you..."

Yoh caught hold of one of her hands and stopped her. "Anna, we're fine, stop worrying." he smiled, gesturing over to where the two teachers were coming out of the changing rooms, ready to get the class moving. "Come on, we better get over there before we get into trouble."

Anna spent the rest of the class watching Freya complain as the girls tried out for long-distance running, sprinting, long and high jumps and various other sports, the teacher very impressed at her level of fitness. When it was not her turn, however, she watched Yoh and Manta do their try-outs. As everybody had expected, Yoh was very good at athletics, with the male teacher putting him down for long distance running, short distance running and discus. Manta, on the other hand, was a lot less comfortable in the field of sport. Acedemics were more his thing, and so this class wasn't really a favourite for him. As he didn't even want to try-out, he spent most of his time watching and cheering on for Yoh, and occasionally smiling and waving over at Anna, who was sitting on the ground, occasionally watching Freya freak out about a bug touching her 'perfect' skin.

* * *

At last, the final bell rang and the class traipsed back into the changing rooms to get back into their uniform before heading back to their homes. Yoh, on the other hand, had been asked to stay out for a few minutes to talk to the teachers, and therefore he had asked Manta to pick up his uniform for him, and he would walk home in the white polo shirt and the black trousers that made up his gym clothes. Waiting at the front gates, Anna and Manta sat atop the brick wall as they watched the rest of the pupils stream out of the gates talking and laughing with their friends. Anna watched as a very nervous Yuki spotted her and quickly moved to the other side of his friend, attempting to hide from her. Manta cringed at that.

"Anna, don't you think that maybe you scared him a bit too much?" asked Manta, looking over as he talked amongst his friends, them virtually protecting him from Anna's gaze.

She looked at Manta, before looking back at Yuki who had now walked out of the gates and had broken into a run, hoping to get as far away from Anna as possible. "No, not too much. Just enough though." she said, laughing. She then looked back to the doors to see Yoh walking out of them, now with the purple, black and white jacket over his polo shirt with his surname 'Asakura' on the back in black. Walking over to the pair sittong on the wall, they jumped down and Yoh took his bag from Manta before the trio started on their trip back to the inn.

Their walk took them through the busy city centre and took about twenty minutes, meaning that they had a lot of time to walk. Yoh had been asked by the teachers, who were also the coaches of the athletics teams, to captain the team, which he had accepted. There was no point in him being in almost every team and not having anything to show for it. With a captaincy, he would have more privilages than the rest of the team on the day and during practice. As they walked through the busy city streets and past the large shopping mall where the group could see plenty of their peers shopping in their school uniforms, a regular sight. There were also people from other schools around, including some of the girls that Anna used to go to school with, who noticed the group and came up to them.

Anna, noticing this, quickly tried to get out of talking to them. There were several reasons for her leaving her old school, but one of them were the people who went there - they didn't get on. And the ones who thought that they were friends... they were too shallow for Anna's liking. "Anna Kyoyama, is that you?" asked one of the girls, pushing her red fringe out of her eyes. Seeing Anna nod, the girl smiled. "Oh my goodness! I thought that you had moved or something! I didn't know you were still around here!" she then looked up and down at the uniform that she was wearing. "You go to Funbari Hill Academy now huh? Wow, that's a pretty upmarket school."

Another girl, a blonde this time, cut in. "Yeah, but you have to remember Chloe, its better than our school." she then looked at the two people that Anna was with. "Who are these people? After one day, you seem pretty close."

Anna sighed, really not wanting to be here. "This is Yoh Asakura, who I grew up with in Izumo and Manta Oyamada, who I met a few years ago due to... various interests that we all share." she said. Just as she noticed the third, brunette member of the group wanting to chip in, she cut her off. "And really, I don't feel like talking about it right now. Or anything else for that matter. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna get back home now. It's... not been a pleasure." she said, before stalking off, Yoh and Manta following.

"Anna..." started Yoh, cautiously. "You know, you can be a little too much of an ice queen sometimes." he said, before seeing the look on her face. "You know what, you be an ice queen. Its up to you! Its your life, not mine! I have no influence over you whatsoever! I'm just gonna shut up..." he said, settling himself for a long, silent walk home.

* * *

The last few hours of the day were spent doing homework, talking and socialising with each other and for Yoh and Manta, preparing dinner. Anna had had a stressful day, the boys understood that. So, even though their cooking skills were not the best, they worked together to produce a meal of decent standard, which Anna seemed to still enjoy. Now, all other things finished for the evening, they were sitting in the living room together, watching television. There was not much else to do, apart from training, which Manta didn't really feel up to at that moment in time. After the display of Shamanic ability that Manta had shown just before Yoh beat Hao during the first part of the Shaman fight, Anna had deemed that, as a friend, she and Yoh should work together to train him so that he had good enough Shaman powers to defend himself from anything. He was getting rather good now, and although Mosuke was still partially trapped in his laptop, they were working on letting Mosuke out completely, although it was rather handy - he was able to have the guardian ghost and his medium around all the time.

Hearing the disant phone ring in the corridor, Yoh got up and went to answer it, knowing that Anna wouldn't miss the end of her shows for anything. Picking up the reciever, he put it to his ear. "Moshi moshi, Asakura-Kyoyama residence, Yoh speaking."

"Yoh! Dude! How's our Shaman King doing in his reign?" asked a male voice that Yoh recognised immediately as Horo-Horo, the snow and ice Shaman from Hokkaido in the north.

Yoh smiled. It had been a long time since he had heard his voice." Its been cool. How are you? How's life back up in Hokkaido?"

Horo laughedt to himself. "Its been more than cool. Its been freezing!" Yoh laughed politely, hoping that Horo hadn't been talking to Chocolove too much over the past year. "No, but seriously, its been awesome. All the crops are coming up perfectly, everything's thriving... looks like I achieved my dream without being Shaman King." he said sincerely. "But anway, dude, I need to ask you a favour..."

As it turned out, Horo and Pirika were coming to Funbari once more, as their parents had made a snap decision and wanted them to have a decent education. As all the best education was in the city, they would have to leave their home and stay somewhere else. As Yoh lived relatively near the city and Horo and Pirika's parents had assumed that they went to a pretty good school being Shaman King and his promised, the Usui's had been hoping to send Horo and Pirika to the same school. After a brief conversation with Mrs. Usui (which did scare Yoh just a little), Horo and Pirika told them that they would be coming down in about ten days time, meaning the following Wednesday.

Just as Yoh was relaying this news to Anna and Manta, the phone rang once more. This was the start of a long line of phone calls. The first was from Ryu, who was somewhere in the very south of Japan and had just finished up some very important training. He told Yoh that he had made a decision - he just wanted to go somewhere and stay there and that he had decided upon Funbari, the city. Then came a phone call from Izumo, from Yoh's grandparents, saying that they were sending down Tamao to help out with things, as they knew that Yoh and Anna were going to be very busy with school and various other things now. Agreeing to this, Yoh then retired to his room, as he wanted to get some more work done before school the next day.

Manta then answered phone calls from China, Ren in particular, who had decided with his sister and parents that it would be better if he returned to Japan with his sister, as life in China after the Shaman fight didn't seem right anymore. Also, because his parents had realised that he was a lot more comfortable in Japan, where his friends were, and therefore Jun and himself would be coming to stay at the inn. The final phone call that Manta received was from Chocolove in America, saying that he needed to get away from his family for a while, and he had nowhere in America to go, and Japan was his only option. There were also various jokes in this particular phone call, which did drive Manta a little off the hook, but he retired to his bedroom soon after that phone call was over, and Anna to hers soon after that.

* * *

At around three in the morning, Anna was suddenly woken by the familiar ring of the phone in the hallway. Cursing whoever had the bad fortune of calling in the middle of the night, she threw on her nightgown and quickly and silently walked out of her bedroom, passing by Manta's and Yoh's and hoping that they were still sleeping and had not noticed the phone ringing. She then made her way down the stairs and to the phone, which was still ringing, and picked up, putting on the very false air of somebody who hadn't just been woken from a very pleasant dream. "Moshi moshi, Asakura-Kyoyama residence, Anna speaking."

"Ahh, Miss Kyoyama, it's nice to speak to you." said a voice on the other end of the phone in broken Japanese, like somebody who had previously been able to speak the language but had not been able to practice. There was the air of a British accent there as well, and what with the late time that the call was being made from, Anna quickly came to the assumption that the phone call was being made from England. "I was wondering, is Yoh available?"

Anna growled slightly. "No, Lyserg, Yoh is not available. Because here in Japan, its three in the morning, whereas in Britain, it is only six in the evening, and therefore you have actually just woken me up from a very nice dream!!!! So no, Yoh is not available. Because he is sleeping, like I should be!"

There was silence. Obviously Anna had silenced the British teenager into a complete state of shock. He and Anna had not actually met formally, and therefore did not know each other that well, which was the reason for Lyserg addressing Anna in a very polite manner. However, Anna really didn't care about politeness with people her own age who at one point opposed her fiancé. This was the first time that they had spoken for three months. "Oh my gosh Anna, I am so sorry." said Lyserg, finally speaking. "The fact that it might be so early in Japan completely slipped my mind!"

Although Anna could be a cold-hearted ice queen sometimes, she did have her moments, and therefore told Lyserg that he might as well say what he wanted as she appriciated that it cost a lot of money to call Japan from the United Kingdom (**A/N: It really does actually. I have friends in Japan, and when we got the phone bill, my mum went round the bend about the cost!!! It cost her a fair couple of quid, to say the least...**). Turned out that he, like all the other Shaman who had phoned up that evening, was looking for lodging around the Tokyo area, and seeing as Yoh and Anna were the only people that he actaully knew in the area, he had considered asking them to put him up for a few weeks, along with Chocolove, who had asked the same thing. Lyserg was going to fly over to America, meet with Chocolove (for only the second time) and then fly to Japan together. Knowing that it would be extremely cold-hearted for her to turn them out, she complied, saying that they could stay too.

The phone call finally over, Anna made her way upstairs and back to her bedroom, but not before checking that Manta and Yoh were fast asleep. Manta was out cold, snoring even. However, Yoh was another matter. As Anna quickly took a look in, she noticed that he was not lying on his futon as normal. At that moment, he was gazing out of his window, back to his door. Anna looked over at him, smiling as she leaned against the door. Hearing a noise from somewhere behind him, Yoh turned to face Anna, her long blonde hair casting a shadow over her face. He smiled at in return at her and she walked over to him, being immediately embraced by Yoh. They simply stood there, bathed in the light of the stars, just enjoying each other's company for a few moments.

"Did it wake you?" asked Anna, not moving to look at him, she was so comfortable just listening to Yoh's heart beat.

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter." He stopped for a moment, looking to the stars once more that were to guide his way as Shaman King. "Who was it?"

"Lyserg. He's coming to stay here. Along with Chocolove, Ren and Jun." She paused for a second before answering Yoh's unasked question. "There were a lot more phone calls after you came in here."

They stood for a moment longer before they sat down together on Yoh's futon, eventually falling asleep together, dreaming of their night under the stars.

**END**

**A/N: Okay, I had to end it on a cliché. I was gonna do a little extra bit of Manta coming in the following morning and seeing them asleep, but it made the chapter run too long, and it was just a peice of unnessary drabble, which I didn't really want to put into this story. Because this does actually have a serious plot!!! Even though many of you probably think that this is just a random romance peice, there is actually a HUGE plot-line that is going to happen!!! But anyway...**

**Questions that are probably running around your heads, and the answers that I can give:**

**Q: Why are all the Shaman's suddenly turning up at the same time? **

_**A: Because I needed them to congregate, because of the reasons that they stated above and just because I can make them do my bidding, as this IS my story **_

**Q: Why is Anna so nice all of a sudden?**

_**A: Because Yoh and Anna's relationship has totally changed and therefore totally changed Anna. **_

**I reckon there are gonna be a few more of these Q and A's, but with your questions rather than ones that I randomly came up with. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And leave me some love so that I can get the next chapter going! Thanks everybody! I love you all!!**

**I hope you guys all had a great Christmas and have a Happy NYE! Only two days to go!!!**

**xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx **


	3. Arrivals

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters within this story save for Rika, Mika and Freya, the teachers, and any more of the students at Funbari Academy. I also own Funbari Academy. You should go there! It's a great school!!! **

**A/N: Hey everybody! I decided, seeing as I have a free half hour, I might as well get cracking on the next chapter of this story. Let me tell you, my life has been chock-a-block full of exams this last week. I've been going from exam to exam to revision period, all supervised, so I got NOTHING done in the way of fan fictions. But I'm back, seeing as I have no exams to revise for tomorrow (thank you GOD!!)**

**Okay, time to answer my reviews!!!**

**_Abie05: Thank you for your review! And, to answer your question (one of the few I had!), they won't hide their relationship, but they won't really show it. It will just be a fact that they are now really close, but they won't like... make out in front of the rest of the gang or anything... you know, unless it's really necessary! _**

_**PandaYumi7: Yep! Isn't it great?!? Yoh x Anna, obviously, and maybe some others, but they are my secret for now **_

**_RainbowHair: No matter. Anyway, thanks so much for your review! Much appreciated. Besides, in a way, this kind of is, because it's my first SK!!!_**

_**REX-King: Thank you!!!  
**__**  
Random: Neither can I **_

**So, this is actually my second stab at this chapter - I did it once at home, but then I forgot to post it to myself, so shall we just see how this turns out? I think we shall. Okay, so here goes nothing - Chapter THREE!!!**

**Oh, and just a warning, there is a little bit of mild language in this chapter, but nothing major. **

**Chapter Three - Arrivals**

The following nine days passed in a flash for Yoh, Manta and Anna, who spent most of the time preparing for the impending arrival of ten Shamans, who were going to mess up the comfortable living routine that they had become accustomed to over the last two years. While Yoh and Manta were in charge of buying groceries day in, day out, to ensure that there would be food when they arrived, Anna was in charge of creating rotas, so that all jobs that needed to be done were done without any arguments. Considering that they were going to be hosting two of the most argumentative Shamans in the history of the Shaman Fight – Ren Tao and Horokeu Usui.

Not only that, but angry Shamans were potentially very dangerous. Especially considering the amount of power that they all now controlled.

It was a scary thought.

Not only were they working out how to learn with thirteen teenagers under one roof, they also had to learn to juggle all their school work and responsibilities. With the athletics team meeting most days after school, this left Yoh with homework troubles, causing him to be awake until the crack of dawn doing his homework, and finally get in about an hours rest before waking up just an hour later. It did nothing for his grades, as the homework had been done very quickly and the teachers were starting to suspect that something was going on at home, preventing Yoh from doing his homework.

Convincing them otherwise was quite a difficult job for Yoh, as he was unable to get his parents into the situation, with them living in Izumo.

Finally, Yoh went to sleep at the beginning of the tenth day, after only having to stay awake until three in the morning – a new record for him. The moment that his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep, snoring loudly, and his dreams being overrun with figures from the Shaman fight, the friends that he was soon to see, and images of what it was going to be like to be back together again, living together once more as they had once before. And finally being able to sit down together properly, and relax. Without having Shaman on their backs trying to kill them with every step they took forward.

* * *

Looking up as she heard the stairs creak, Anna watched as Yoh came down the stairs, rubbing his eyes with one hand and his orange schoolbag and converses in the other hand. It was obvious that Manta had just woken him up a matter of minutes ago. Walking into the kitchen, his eyes almost completely closed, he sat down at the table and dropped his head onto the table. Shaking her head and laughing silently at his behaviour, Anna shook him back to life. "Come on Yoh, get up, or we're gonna be late for school!"

Yoh simply groaned at that statement, before looking up at Anna with his eyes still almost completely closed. "But I'm tired!!!" he whined, blinking slowly in an attempt to wake himself up. "I was up till like three finishing up my homework, then I got woken up at five by the stupid birds singing right outside my window, then Amidamaru came and woke me up at around six because he didn't realise that it was so early and AAARGHH!!!"

Anna smiled rather evilly as she dropped the ice-cubes down the back of Yoh's shirt. As of late, it wasn't really like her to do something like that, but Yoh was never usually that tired in the morning. After finally getting all the ice out of his shirt (and attacking Anna with the remnants), the pair sat down at the table and continued to discuss what was going to happen that night. As Yoh was going to have to stay behind for Athletics, Anna and Manta would return home straight after school and welcome the Shaman's into their home, with Yoh arriving around an hour later after practice.

Upon Manta's arrival to the room, the trio left for Funbari Academy, for what was going to be their last normal day of education for a while.

* * *

The day passed relatively slowly, with the first class being the most boring in the world. Their second class was Chemistry, which had never been Yoh's best subject – in every practical exam they did; he had almost always nearly blown up the entire school, without the teacher knowing. So, Yoh usually left the practical assessments to Manta and Anna, who worked a lot better as a team than Yoh and Manta ever had. Thankful that they were able to get him a decent grade in the class without him having to attempt the experiments that would usually end up with Yoh's hair standing on end and Manta fainted, dead on the floor, Yoh simply wrote up the experiment, finishing just as the bell rang for the end of the and break began.

After twenty minutes of wasting time, Japanese History class finally rolled around, with Yoh, Anna and Manta hardly paying attention. Today, they were being taught about something that they already knew much about – the 'devil' Amidamaru. While the rest of the class were sitting and taking notes, Yoh, Anna and Manta were sitting at the back, with Amidamaru watching the class in spirit-ball form, and all four of them were laughing silently and answering every single question, with Yoh answering the majority of them with help from Amidamaru. The legend said that Amidamaru had gone mad when he killed all those people, and there was no mention of his best friend having been killed prior to the event, and causing his anger.

The class ended on a relative high, with the teacher setting the entire class homework, but as Anna, Yoh and Manta seemed to understand the entire subject, they were exempt from the homework. Manta, who was quite used to this, simply didn't say anything about it. Anna didn't mind, but Yoh, who had always been set extra, was celebrating at the fact that he might actually be able to catch a few hours sleep that night.

* * *

Lunchtime was finally here, and this hour and a half found Manta, Anna and Yoh sitting together on a hill in the middle of the schoolyard, leaning against a tree and talking. As the whether had improved, they had been eating outside a lot more, but still knew that soon they would be restricted to the lunch room once more as the whether deteriorated in winter. The only subject that seemed to be crossing their minds that day was the imminent arrival of the rest of the Shaman's from all over the country… all over the world, and a phone call from Horo-Horo telling them that he and Pirika would be arriving at around four, just so that they knew. Anna was very please that Horo seemed to have acquired some manners since they last saw him in the Shaman tournament.

Talking amongst themselves, the trio did not see the all-female trio watching them, waiting to make their move. "We have to wait until that Kyoyama bitch leaves MY Yoh alone so that I can finally have a decent conversation with him." Said Freya, tucking a few strands of her long blonde hair behind her ear and looking back to her friends again.

"Yeah, but Freya, they're just friends! I don't think that Anna will mind if you just talk to him." Said Mika, adding her opinion. Judging from the looks that both Freya and Rika gave her after she spoke, she knew that she had said the wrong thing, and simply went back into silence, hoping that the girls would forget what she had said. She had given up everything to be in this gang, every shred of her ex-gothic personality. If she had her way, she would be hanging out with the gothic girls right now and listening to rock music. Neither of her 'friends' knew the real her. The girl who had every single Trivium, Alexisonfire and Evanescence CD ever made.

"I honestly think that those two are too close to just be friends. I have a feeling that there's something else going on there…" started Rika, before looking up and seeing Anna stand up. "Ooh, look's like Kyoyama's moving out of the picture. I guess this is your chance Freya." She continued, as Anna walked into the building, pulling her mobile phone out of her pocket and flipping it open.

Standing up straight and brushing her uniform off, Freya started off towards Yoh and Manta, who were talking intently, Yoh with a slight smile on his face. Feeling rather than hearing her two friends behind her, she walked up to Yoh and stood at his feet, causing him to investigate who was casting a shadow over him. Looking up at her, there was a second where Yoh didn't know how to look, before he affixed a smile onto his face. "Hey Freya. How are you?"

"I'm so great thanks. Oh my gosh, it seems like forever since we like, last hung out!" she said, putting on a voice that she hoped, would get Yoh interested in her.

Yoh smiled slightly, more out of the sheer comedy of the situation than anything else. "Yeah, it has actually."

"Anyway, I was just like thinking… you know how you were totally on fire in Japanese History class today?" she said, seeing him nod before carrying on. "Well, us three are like, totally failing that class, so we were wondering if you were free after Athletics practice tonight so that you could go over the finer points of… uh…"

"…Amidamaru and his killing spree." Finished Rika, who had obviously been the only person who had actually paid attention in that class out of the entire group.

Yoh looked nervous at that. They were asking to come over to the inn on possibly the most difficult night possible – the night when all their friends were coming over to stay. It would be hard squeezing an extra three people into the house, making the count up to sixteen people. Thinking hard, Yoh came up with the easiest solution. "Well, I'll have to check, but I guess that's okay…"

"Awesome!" said Freya, not even waiting for him to finish. "We'll meet you at the front gates after you've finished your Athletics practice? Okay? Okay. Thanks Yoh!" and with that, she stalked off, her two cronies behind her. Blowing Yoh a kiss over his shoulder, she retreated back into the school building, where Anna was just coming out. Looking her up and down, Freya walked into the building, paying Anna no attention, while Anna simply snapped her phone shut with a reasonably loud click coming from it, causing Freya, Mika and Rika to jump. Laughing, Anna returned to the group, and they continued their lunchtime in peace.

* * *

Changing out of his athletics clothes and into the normal clothes that Anna had picked up for him during the free period she had first. She had brought him his favourite combination of clothes – an orange t-shirt, black jeans and he threw his orange converses back on. Walking out of the changing room with his schoolbag swung over his back, he noticed the girls at the front gates, Freya putting on some more make-up and Mika dusting her clothes down. Rika was just standing beside them, listening to some music on her MP3 player. He had been amazed when Anna had actually agreed to letting them come over to the inn that night to study. Laughing quietly to himself, Yoh approached them. "Hey you guys are you ready to head to my place?" he asked.

Immediately, the girls replied with the affirmative, and after Yoh told them that the trip was around twenty minutes, the four of them headed off, the three girls talking while Yoh listened to his own music, thinking about how confusing it was when they were going to arrive. The Shamans were aware that the girls were coming with Yoh, but the girls were not aware that they were going to be studying in a house with spirits and Shamans.

The walk back to the inn was uneventful, apart from Freya spotting what she thought was the 'cutest bag ever' in a shop window, and the other two girls had to drag her away from it. They finally made it onto the dusty road that lead to the inn. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the girls were confused. They had obviously had this vision of him living in some modern house nearer to the town centre, but instead, he lived here, on one of the back streets in Tokyo. They were looking around at the few houses that were dotted around nearby, but they were nothing in comparison to the size of the place they were headed too. Finally seeing the inn through the dust that had been kicked up by the wind, Yoh reached out and swung open the gate, allowing the girls to walk onto the property.

As he walked forward, he noted that the girls weren't with him, so he turned around to see them looking up at the building in shock. "Uh… what?" he asked, not understanding why they were just gazing up at the inn with a look of amazement on their faces.

"It's just… whoa. This place is so big!" said Mika, who was evidently the only person who actually was able to speak at that moment in time.

Yoh rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess it is, but it has its uses. Now come on, lets get inside." He said, beckoning for them to follow him. He pushed open the door to the porch and they stepped inside, following Yoh's example of taking off their shoes. Walking into the corridor that leads to all the rooms in the ground floor and the stairs to the first, they saw numerous suitcases lined up against a wall. One was purple (Ren), one green (Jun), one blue and black (Horo), one simply blue (Pirika), one in black that had the Union Jack on a label (Lyserg), an identical one with the American flag (Chocolove) and a few others which Yoh was able to distinguish just by looking at them.

"Wow, you have a lot of suitcases here. Did you just get back from vacation or something?" asked Freya, genuinely interested/

Yoh shook his head. "No, we just have a lot of guests coming to stay for a while. They're from all over, and they're not going back for a while, so they had to bring a lot of stuff over with them!" he said, looking at all the suitcases and marvelling at how many things that they had brought with him. The girls' suitcases were easily the worst – the clothes were almost bulging out of the side of the suitcases, and they had been leaned with their fronts against the wall to prevent them falling over and shattering anything that was inside.

Dumping his schoolbag by the suitcases, he motioned for the girls to do the same, with one hand on the memorial tablet that contained Amidamaru. He quickly let Amidamaru out, without the girls noticing anything strange. "I'm just gonna say hi to the guests. You can come too if you want…" and, with that, he started off into the garden, Amidamaru and the girls following him. Walking to the back door and sliding it open enough for him to get through silently; he watched as the group of Shaman laughed, drank and ate the snacks that Manta and Anna had put out for them. Horo, Lyserg and Ryu were talking, while Ren was having a discussion with Manta – probably about something overly academic. The girls were all sitting together, with Anna sitting at the centre of the bench, and the girls all looking at the ring around her neck – obviously she had broken the news to them about Yoh's proposal to her. Faust and Eliza, who had called them to say that they were going to be in town too, so they might as well come and stay for a few days while finding a hotel (something that Anna refused to hear – Faust made an excellent housemate), were talking in a corner together.

"Well, well, well. I never thought that I would see so many familiar faces after so long…" said Yoh, causing everybody to turn silent and look over at him. They were only able to see him and Amidamaru, while the girls were standing behind the screened doors, looking at everything through the small slit that they created in the doors.

There was silence for a minute before all the girls screamed and all the boys cheered. "How's our Shaman King?!" shouted Horo-Horo over everybody else, making them all laugh.

"This must be your ideal job! I mean, perfect house, perfect Shamanic position… dude, you're the best Shaman in the world!"

Yoh grinned. "Yeah, I guess it is a pretty sweet deal. I mean, I just do normal stuff, but I have this awesome underlying secret." He said.

"TWO underlying secrets!" said Anna, standing up and walking over to him. There was a cheer from the rest of the group as Anna approached Yoh and slid her arm around his waist. "Oh come on people, you're not going to get to see anything." There was laughter from this statement. There was chatter as Yoh and Anna talked, but behind the sliding door, the three girls were in shock.

"Oh my god."

"Kyoyama lives here?"

"They seemed pretty close to me!"

"That's kind of worrying…"

"I mean…"

Freya put her hands out, motioning for the girls to stop. "Listen, all we saw was that Kyoyama put her arm around Yoh's waist – basically a hug. Now, if I'm not mistaken, best friends hug each other all the time. Therefore, that is nothing out of the ordinary. We just act normally. And we go out there and see what is going down."

"And find out what those two secrets are." Continued Rika.

"Yeah… that too."

They all stopped talking as they heard the doors open and Yoh stand in front of them. "Hey guys, come meet my friends!" he said, before walking with them back outside. "Hey guys, listen up. These are three girls from my school, seeing as they're gonna be here for a while today, I thought you guys should just meet them and stuff. This is Freya, Mika and Rika. Girls, meet the rest of the gang. There's Horo-Horo, his little sister Pirika, Ren and his older sister Jun, Ryu, Lyserg, who's from England by the way, Chocolove from America, Tamao is from my home-town and I've known her since… forever. " he said, before turning to Faust and Eliza. "These two are Faust and Eliza. They're the only adults around but they don't really care what we get up to."

"Hey!" said the entire group of Shaman's at once.

The girls looked on, before replying quietly. "Uh… hi." And soon, the conversation among the Shaman's continued. Meanwhile, the girls were talking to Yoh, confused.

"Yoh, where are your parents?" asked Freya, looking around once more. "Are they at work or something?"

Yoh laughed. "No, my parents don't live here! They live up in my hometown, Izumo. Me and Anna usually live her by ourselves. Sometimes Manta comes over and stays for a few weeks at a time. Actually, I think that Faust and Eliza are the first adults to actually come to this place…" said Yoh, trailing off before quickly coming back to Earth. "Anyway, no matter. Anna and I have lived here for ages. But that's not really worth talking about. Come on, join in. everybody's really friendly." He said, and then went over to Anna, smiling as she turned around and they began to talk.

The large group were outside for what seemed like the entire night, but it was only two hours. After those two hours were up, they were assigned their rooms, with Ren and Horo almost fighting each other before realising that there were non-Shamans present, leaving them to take that to the relative safety of their room. Jun had her own room, while Pirika and Tamao were sharing. Lyserg was sharing with Chocolove and Ryu and Faust and Eliza were sharing a room. Manta, Anna and Yoh still had their own rooms, thankfully, as they didn't really want to have to put somebody up in their rooms for a long time.

After all of the sleeping arrangements were all given out and accepted (however grudgingly) by Yoh and Anna's new housemates, Yoh and the girls headed upstairs, Anna watching them as they walked upstairs, and spotting the look in Freya's eyes.

END

**A/N: Well, that was extremely unlike me. But oh well. I've written less than my usual for once in my life – I usually get out around 4000 words a chapter, this one is just under 4000 (but with this AN, it probably will hit and pass it). Anyway, I've finished this chapter for now!**

**Now, I have a question for you, and you guys have to all vote on this to get what you want!!!**

**The main paring of this story is Yoh x Anna, as is quite obvious from what is going on.**

**However, what other pairs would you guys like? Although I am primarily a yaoi writer, and therefore am obviously more in favour of writing yaoi couplings, if you give me a hetero couple and I can actually bear to write it, I will do it. So just give me your votes, and the one that I feel will work most with the storyline, but one that I also feel I can write, I will work into the story somehow! And you can vote for anything ! apart from, obviously, no splitting up Yoh and Anna, or Faust and Eliza, because they are established and cannon and I'm keeping them!**

**The rest, is up to you – the reader!**

**Leave me some love!! **

**Much love**

**xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx**


	4. APOLOGY & TEMP CHAPTER

**A/N: Hey Guys.**

I would firstly like to dispel some possible rumours among my readers:

1 - No, I am not discontinuing

2 - No, I am not just plain lazy

Now, I know that you are all aware that I have not updated as often as I have previously as of late. There are several reasons for that, the main ones being:

**1 - I am currently sitting my GCSE exams. For the other nationalities out there, GCSE's are the exams that decide what college and university I get into in the future.**

**2 - I go to boarding school, as some of you are already aware. Therefore, updating while at boarding school is hard - FF net is blocked. **

**3 - I am currently suffering from an extreme case of writers block and have not been able to write anything reasonably creative, including musically, for the past month. **

**4 - I have had exams since the beginning of May. **

However, some good news. For those of you who are in America, you are already on your summer holidays. I hope you enjoy them! For me, summer holidays begin on July 30th. After this date, you will have reasonably regular updates from me until the end of August.

During this summer, my aim would be to get this story finished, and considering that this one looks like its going to end up being novel-length, that would be quite a feat in itself, along with the fact that I am working on a 5 part Danny Phantom series at the same time (for more info, check out my profile), and with your support, I hope to achieve this.

But for now, my friends, I must leave you.

My next update will be sometime around the 1st JULY. Until this date, this story is on **TEMPORARY HOLD**.

I'm really sorry! But updates in summer will be coming thick and fast, and hopefully I'll get this finished!

And before I go, I'll answer your reviews:

**Firstly, I would just like to do my review replies here and now, so that they're done and out of the way when I start the next chapter: **

PandaYumi7 - I do think that you are slighlty insane! But that's the way I like my reviewers! Thank you for your comments and helpful shipping hints!! Lol

**Abie05 - Basically, they are officially together within the group. I think. Considering I haven't read over this in a while, I could potentially be wrong. But I guess the way that you take it is up to you . You are the reader after all! I hope that you're enjoying what's happened so far!**

NgocNhi - Sorry for not updating! But you'll see my reasons below! And trust me, when I do update, I'll have several kick-ass chapters for you to read!

**Nightglider-Star - ... Again, up to you how you read it - you are the reader. **

hafewolfdemon - Thank you for your compliments!

**Arisu Tsuranu - Thank you for your compliments! Sorry about the not-updating thing, but you will see my reasons below! And as I said before, come July, there will be a kick ass chapter for you!**

Syaoran-Sama - You will be pleased to know that I have changed my mind about the yaoi idea, and all characters within will be straight. XD Or, not coupled at all.

**Lonelyecho - There will be more fluff in future! Just wait patiently!!!**

PhoenixMyth - Thank you for your compliments!!!

**Thank you again!! Love you all**

**xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx**


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